


Any Better

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21713431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: A few glimpses into another realm.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Any Better

Kel tried her best to keep from looking around the Training Master's office. Freckle had no such compulsions, however, and he immediately began to flit around the space. Kel was torn between embarrassment for her daemon, who she thought had become better trained than this, the desire to call Freckle to heel, and the instruction to stay silent until spoken to. Finally she settled on hidden embarrassment and being thankful that he was at least being quiet. She stayed still and quiet herself and just watched Freckle move about in her peripheral vision.

It was a good thing that Kel was already wearing her Yamani mask when a large nose appeared from behind the Training Master's desk. The nose was followed by a head, and soon an entire mastiff dog, almost as large as Kel, was standing before her.

She woofed once, imperiously, and Freckle let out a small 'eep' before retreating to Kel's shoulder.

As the dog circled them, Kel tried to decide if this was a good or bad first impression to make on Lord Wyldon's daemon.

oOo

As Kel inched towards the hill, eying the battle between the boys’ daemons and those of the bandits, she tried to figure out the best next step. "Freckle!" she called.

Her daemon immediately broke off from the attack, leaving the wild birds to harry the bandits, and returned to her side. "Get my Lord!" she told him.

"I can't go that far!" Freckle protested.

"Then send some of the wild birds!" Kel replied.

"Right!" Freckle returned to the flock, and soon, through the haze of Neal's gift, Kel saw a couple of sparrows take off. Though they couldn't talk, she hoped that they would be able to convey her message to Lord Wyldon and their other teachers. Hopefully help would be there soon.

oOo

Kel heard the wild birds shriek in a tone she had never before heard, and immediately she glanced at Freckle. Her daemon was trembling, his eyes wide. "What is it?" she whispered.

Freckle shook his little head, but for once her garrulous companion was silent. "Freckle?" He continued to tremble, staring out into the woods.

"Dom?" Kel asked, turning to the older man.

He glanced at his daemon, a proud lioness, but she was equally upset. "I don’t know, but it's going to be bad," he replied.

oOo

The first thing Kel saw was Hoshi, in a bird form instead of her usual horse, bolting right for Freckle. At the sight of the familiar daemon, Kel felt a knot form in her stomach. Lord Wyldon turned, and Kel immediately recognized the boy in his arms. "Tobe!"

oOo

As the children came down the stairs, Kel felt a new kind of unease. She couldn't place it at first, certainly she hadn't heard any odd noise, but there was something wrong, and it had started prickling at her when she saw the children.

It took a few moments longer, but finally Kel realized what she was seeing. The daemons who had gone to escort the children were returning, but of the children's own daemons there was no sight.

Were they trapped, elsewhere in the castle? Held in some special room from which they couldn't escape? Kel looked at her guides, but they were looking down, avoiding her gaze.

Horror began to well through her as Kel glanced between the ghost-like children and the scared adults. Freckle's soft peep on her shoulder seemed to confirm it. "It isn't the children at all?" she hissed, "It's their daemons?"

Zerhalm flinched, but finally nodded. "He must have been in a hurry," he whispered miserably.

oOo

Kel and Freckle stood on the wall above New Hope, surveying their people's hard work. The children had, against the odds, survived the death of their daemons, and the King's mages had flooded her town to analyze them. Her people were suddenly better protected than she could have wished in the last year, but for all the wrong reasons.

Knowing that she needed comfort, Freckle rubbed his head on her chin and peeped gently.

The mages spoke of another realm – like the one the Immortals came from – where people survived without daemons. It sounded miserable to Kel, as she couldn't imagine her life without Freckle, but they were certain that such a thing could exist. On days like today, Kel couldn't help but wonder if the her of that other world would have done any better.


End file.
